Biometrics are methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits.
Biometrics, to be useful, must be unique, universal, acceptable, and readily collectible. Biometrics should be readily recognized, authentication should be timely performable, and circumvention should be difficult.
Permanence may also be a key feature of biometrics, such that the unique quality of any given biometric should remain essentially unchanged throughout the life of the individual.
Fingerprints, for instance, are considered an example of a biometric, as are retinal scans.
For the purposes of this application, any set of biometrics belonging to a specific individual is termed a Biometric Data Set (BDS).
For instance, the fingerprints of one particular person are part of that person's BDS, and the retinal scan of that same person is part of that person's BDS.
More recently, iris recognition (IR) has emerged as a prevalent method of biometric authentication.
IR uses pattern recognition techniques based on high-resolution images of the irides of an individual's eyes.
IR uses camera technology, with subtle infrared illumination reducing specular reflection from the convex cornea, to create images of the detail-rich, intricate structures of the iris.
Converted into digital templates, these images provide mathematical representations of the iris that yield unambiguous positive identification of an individual.
IR efficacy is rarely impeded by glasses or contact lenses, and apparently has the smallest outlier group of currently prominent biometric technologies.
Biometrics, and particularly IR technology, are a factor in the potential solution to two significant security problems plaguing the world today.
The first problem is that of identity theft. Identity theft is a significant and growing problem, imposing costs on its victims, law enforcement, and society as a whole.
The second problem is that of establishing a person's location, and particularly establishing a person's location over time.
There are many situations in which it is beneficial to businesses, governments, law enforcement or other entities to establish a person's location.
Establishing a person's location may be useful for finding lost persons, or for locating criminals or terrorists.
Moreover, both of those purposes are served well where a person's location can be identified over time.
Under conventional biometric identification programs, biometric data is collected and stored in databases associating the biometric with an individual.
Conventionally, however, information about the circumstances surrounding the collection of the biometric data may be difficult to obtain.
Conventionally, then, using biometric data to identify a person's location over time may be impracticable.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a method or system for making biometric data susceptible to use in locating individuals and tracking the location of individuals over time.
It would be further desirable to provide a method or system for providing identification based at least in part on biometric data wherein an individual and/or entity could opt-in to the method or system in exchange for heightened security consideration and/or other suitable benefits.